Nearly 200 young musicians representing four ensembles from the Lawrence University Academy of Music will showcase their talents Sunday, Dec. 4 in a pair of concerts at the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.
The string orchestra and the flute choir will take the stage in a 3 p.m. concert, while the honors band and wind ensemble will perform in a 7 p.m. concert. Tickets for each concert are $6 and can be purchased at the Lawrence Box Office, 832-6749 or at the door the day of the event.
The 63-member string orchestra, featuring students in grades 4-8 under the direction of Linda Callahan, will perform a program with appeal to youngsters as well as the young at heart. Highlighting the concert will be two works arranged by Appleton elementary and middle level strings teacher Carrie Gruselle — “Postcards from Russia” and “John Henry.”
The flute choir concert will include works by Handel, Beethoven, Brahms and conclude with a rendition of Ricky Lombardo’s stirring arrangement of “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” The 13-member ensemble comprised of students in grades 8-12 features several different types of flutes, including bass flute and alto flute. Barb Boren, flute choir coach and Lawrence sophomore Katie Buchanan will co-direct the ensemble.
In the evening concert, the honors band will pay tribute to Ralph Rothe. A 1949 Lawrence graduate, Rothe spent more than 30 years as band director in the Appleton school district. Following his death earlier this year, he bequeathed to Lawrence and the Academy his entire collection of 1,600 band arrangements, music that spans nearly the entire 20th century.
The 57-member band of seventh, eighth and ninth graders, will perform four pieces from Rothe’s collection, including Grant Hull’s “European Folk Tune Suite,” which features a Russian dance, a Polish lullaby and a Spanish dance.
The honors band also will premiere an arrangement by Jon Meyer, the ensemble’s director, of A.F. Weldon’s 1914 March, “Gate City,” an eclectic collection of Southern tunes ranging from Stephen Foster to “Dixie” written to honor Atlanta, once known for its large number of gated yards.
Closing out the evening concert will be a performance of the 62-member Academy Wind Ensemble under the direction of Michael Ross. The ensemble features advanced woodwind, brass and percussion students in grades 9-12.
Highlighting the concert will be a pair of solo performances by guest artist Marty Erickson, a former principal/solo tubist for 26 years with the United States Navy Band in Washington D.C. Heard on more than 40 recordings of orchestra, concert band, brass band, dixieland jazz, folk and children’s music, Erickson has performed in 48 of the 50 states, throughout Europe as well as in Japan and Cuba. He has played with such legendary ensembles as the Boston Pops Orchestra, the National Symphony and the Smithsonian Masterworks Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Gunther Schuller.
Erickson currently teaches tuba and euphonium in the Lawrence Conservatory of Music. During the concert, he will perform Rossini’s “Largo al Factotum” and “Concertino for Tuba” by Rolf Wilhelm.
